


Knocked down; making room

by MadHatter13



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Aromantic, Aromantic Character, Bisexual Character, Dipper is transgender, Gen, Mabel is transgender, Pansexual Character, Queer Character, Queer Themes, Soos is queer, Stan is bi, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Wendy is aromantic/pansexual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-10
Packaged: 2018-02-16 21:56:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2285808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadHatter13/pseuds/MadHatter13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gravity Falls is a small town, and Stan knows someone will have to stick up for the ones who don't fit in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knocked down; making room

**Author's Note:**

> Originally supposed to be a drabble response to a tumblr headcanon which then got slightly out of hand.

The thing about Gravity Falls, in the opinion of one Stanford Pines, was that it wasn‘t really weird _enough_.

Oh, sure. You had your gnomes, hide-behinds, Old Man McGucket, that postman who was almost certainly a werewolf and the occasional human-faced squash, but in small towns, variety in actual _people_ can be a bit hard to find. In terms of ethnicities it was a bit of a hodgepodge, mostly of those who had become too desensitized to move on once they got there, but in other terms, well...

There was certainly Manly Dan Courduroy, who everyone knew had probably been having some sort of thing going on with Tyler the Cute Biker for _ages_ now – and anyone mad enough to dare mess with them would be very nearly suicidal. Oh, sure – Manly Dan looked impressive enough, but you did _not_ want Tyler to come after you with those terrifyingly pointy boots of his.

Then there was Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland – no-one was exactly certain what _their_ deal was, but it was generally agreed they‘d get married sooner or later, if only for the tax benefits.

And then there was Stan himself, who had seen more than a few things in his time and known more than a few people, hint hint, nudge nudge. It was just yet another reason he could thank his old dad for forcing him to take up boxing. It‘s hard enough growing up in the fifties when you‘re a total whimp – it could have gotten much, much worse if people had realized he hadn‘t just had a crush on the _girl_ next door. Once you learn to hit people hard enough that they don‘t get up right away, only the stupid are going to try giving you a hard time.

_(Unfortunately, the world never had a shortage of stupid people. It was the reason he‘d bought his first pair of knuckledusters.)_

So, you know. Maybe he finds himself paying attention. Entirely on accident. Because information might not have been so easily forthcoming when he was a kid, but even though the internet‘s made it easier these days, sometimes it still feels as if the entire world is walking around with a blindfold and earplugs.

* * *

 

Soos, now, he‘s easy. Stan might have hired him anyway just because he‘s so damn _weird_ – he‘ll need _someone_ who at least puts up with him. And he doesn‘t have very many friends, Stan notices, because he is, in an odd way, a really affectionate guy to almost everyone. He only knows about two people that ever made it to Soos‘s blacklist – that being Gideon and Robbie, the latter for several unflattering comments he‘d made about Wendy. Stan is sneakier than people give him credit for – it wasn‘t hard to hear Soos promising the jerk that he‘d brain him with a screwdriver if he didn‘t clean up his act. Of course, in true Soos fashion, this didn‘t mean he didn‘t act as affable to that tight-pants wearing zombie as he did to everyone else.

Soos, basically, likes almost everyone, in a variety of ways, and to the stupid this was somehow a threat.

Wendy, now – Wendy‘s not as easy to crack. Of course she has her dad to rely on, but although Dan trains every single one of his kids to be excellent lumberjacks, which has its uses in almost every circumstance imaginable, he isn‘t the easiest guy to talk to.

Neither is Stan, for that matter, but when he one day sees her kick some snothead in the ham-and-eggs because he called the girl she‘s been making eyes at some seriously messed-up names, well... He can‘t really help surreptitiously passing the word on to her dad that he needs some extra hands around the Shack. It only takes her forty five minutes after that to show up and plant her dirty boots on the register. Probably the main reason is not wanting to cut down trees for the rest of the summer, but it‘s a step in what is probably the general right direction, Stan thinks.

_(He also resolves he is never, ever telling anyone about this. He has a reputation to keep down, you know.)_

* * *

 

It used to be simpler when he was younger, Stan thinks. There weren‘t as many options as there were today. You had your gays, your lesbians, the drag-queens, and people like him, clean and simple.

_(Although getting anyone to admit bisexuality was a thing had taken its time. You‘d think people wouldn‘t deny those around them in exactly the same manner they‘d been denied themselves for who knew how long. But people, from what he had observed, didn‘t make sense anyway, so why put any faith in them at all?)_

But maybe people just had more words to describe whatever they were, now. That couldn‘t be a bad thing, he thinks, if it makes the world easier for them to understand – although it wouldn‘t be so bad if people could just calm the hell down and stop making such a big deal about the whole thing. An unlikely thing to happen, he knows, but a man can dream, or at least have vague ideas about a slightly better world, anyway.

Soos, it turns out, has very little appreciation of whatever people keep between their navels and their kneecaps, but falls in love at the drop of a hat – never for very long, but he doesn‘t value people any lesser for it. Idly, Stan overhears them as he counts the day’s profits by the register. They’re chatting in the giftshop over a bag of chips, which seem to mysteriously manifest whenever Soos stays still for long enough. He‘d attribute it to yet more Gravity Falls weirdness if it had any impact what-so-ever on his life, but since it doesn‘t, he just lets it slide, and steals as much of them as he can.

                ‘It’s, like,’ Wendy makes a motion half between a shrug and a gesture to the universe in general, ‘I like them. They’re fun to hang out with, and also Tamburywas _adorable_ , when you could get her off the phone for long enough. And kissing is awesome. But I don’t, I don’t know. _Love_ them? I don’t understand that stuff anyway – I just hear people talking about being super possessive and something about butterflies? And I’m like ‘are you guys okay? That doesn’t sound comfortable at all.’’

                Soos nods sagely. ‘Alas – the commodification of romantic attachment in our culture makes fools of us all.’

                Wendy pauses, slightly cross-eyed, as people sometimes do when Soos says something that sounds unexpectedly intelligent. ‘Dude, don’t take this the wrong way, but sometimes I think you are an alien.’

                ‘Aren’t we all?’ The handy-man posits philosophically, before stuffing his face with tiny burritos.

                ‘Anyway, you know what I mean. Being the weird one is… Weird.’

                ‘Eh, once you stop worrying about it, other people will too.’ He shrugs, and then frowns. ‘Although it didn’t stop my classmates in high school from calling me a f-‘

                ‘Eough, don’t say that word,’ says Wendy, her expression like a bad breakfast. ‘It makes me want to punch people in the neck a lot.’

                ‘Sorry.’

                ‘Sometimes I almost think it would be easier if we just said we were gay like my dad, but then I wouldn’t get to make out with guys anymore –‘ And suddenly she stops talking.

There’s a tiny little strangled noise from Soos, and it takes Stan a moment before he notices that they’re staring at him with this kind of resigned, low key dread on their faces. It takes him a few moments after _that_ to get whatever they’re on about.

Then he snorts. ‘What? You think they invented this stuff in the 21st century? You’ll need something a bit more interesting if you think you can shock an old codger like me, you know.’ And then he goes back counting the money, but doesn’t get far because there’s a long, excited bellow of ‘ _Mister Piiiiiines!_ ’ And then he gets glomped by Soos, which is not for the faint of heart.

He’s crankily telling him to put him the hell down and stop being such a carebear when he notices Wendy is laughing, and both of them just look really… Well, happy.

Her teeth flash in the lowlight as he grumpily adjusts his fez. ‘Yeah. Whatever. Cool, dude.’

* * *

 

His great-niece-and-nephew arriving, now, that was neither planned nor anticipated. He hasn’t seen them for some time by then, and it’s a bit of a surprise when the twin’s mother calls him up when it’s decided they’ll be spending the summer at the Shack; Apparently Polaris wants to be referred to as Mabel ( _which, frankly, he considers an improvement. Never let it be said that their parents have the slightest idea how to name their kids)_ and Dipper, while keeping the nickname, very definitely considers himself a boy, now.

What are the odds? But he knows, better than people think, that twins are often cut from cloth too similar, so he isn’t _that_ surprised.

But, well… Dipper’s dealt with a lifetime of people raising him to be a girl – and while he knows by now that doesn’t mean _weak_ in any way whatsoever, he’ll have to know how to take what the world throws at him. So it’s just another thing he takes upon himself, and hopes the kid won’t resent him for it too much. God knows he’s got enough pressure on him as it is.

He isn’t quite sure what to do about Mabel. She bounces back whatever happens, and it’ll see her through a long way, but maybe not long enough. Then one day she comes up to him with stars in her eyes because she’s crushing yet another guy, and this one’s a boxer, and will he teach her, please please _please?_

He doesn’t have the heart to tell her it’s probably not the best way to win the guy over, and despite his cranky attitude he likes having something to share with her. As it turns out, she’s brilliant at it! More to the point, she likes it, even though it doesn’t work out with the guy ( _who, like a whole lot of morons through the ages, past-Stan included, doesn’t like a girl who can beat him with a single punch.)_ And so he knows that when the time comes, she’ll knock the socks of anyone who challenges who she is – literally or not.

And Stan thinks that if a town like this one can put up with vampires and mad inventors and insufferable child psychics, well, it can probably deal with a few oddballs along the way.

And if it won’t… Well, then it’s going up against Stanford Pines, and he’s had a lifetime of being knocked down to stand on.

**Author's Note:**

> I nicked the idea of Mabel's birth name being Polaris from another fic - it doesn't seem much of a stretch for people who would call their kid Dipper.


End file.
